/*
 * TazioNetwork.java    0.0.1    08/dic/2009
 * 
 * Copyright (c) 2009 mentalsmash.org
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 *
 * The use of the Apache License does not indicate that this project is
 * affiliated with the Apache Software Foundation.
 */ 
package org.mentalsmash.tazio.transparency.interfaces;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.mentalsmash.tazio.commons.identifiers.NID;
import org.mentalsmash.tazio.transparency.commons.messages.TazioMessage;

/**
 * This interface is used to offer to the upper layers an uniform way to send messages to 
 * nodes connected to the system.
 * <p>
 * This interface is used on the ReplicaManager's side to avoid that the upper layers 
 * have to worry about sending messages to a WeakReplicaManager.
 * Thus, using this interface, the ReplicaManager will simply have to invoke the 
 * <code>send</code> method to send a message to the specified recipient, the underlying 
 * tasks of resolving the {@link TazioNodeID} to an address and re-sending the message in 
 * case of local or remote problems will all be managed by this layer, which will accomplish 
 * the task of sending the messages to the correct recipient.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @version 0.0.1	08/dic/2009
 * @author Enrico Savioli <savioli.enrico@gmail.com>
 */
public interface Point2PointCommunication {

	/**
	 * This method is invoked by a ReplicaManager to send a message to the WeakReplicaManager 
	 * identified by the {@link TazioNodeID} NID provided as an input parameter.
	 * 
	 * @param <T>		a class implementing {@link Serializable}, which is the type of the 
	 * 					message that will be sent to the WeakReplicaManager.
	 * @param message	the object of type T which will be sent to the WeakReplicaManager.	
	 * @param NID		the {@link TazioNodeID} identifying the recipient of the message.
	 * @return			the {@link TazioMessage} which has been returned as an answer to the 
	 * 					sent message.
	 */
	<T extends Serializable> Serializable send(T message, NID nid);
	
}
